Hall of Famer

FRANK SHAUGHNESSY

Inducted in 1974

Member Details

Career Highlights

1952-1955

Vice-President, Laurentian Ski Zone

1957-1972

Vice-President, Canadian Olympic Association

1967

Chair, Royal Canadian Golf Association

1973-1976

Olympic Games Organizing Committee (COJO)

Story

Sporting events and athletic meets would never come together without the hard work of sports administrators such as Frank Shaughnessy. Shaughnessy worked his way up from the club to the national administrative level in both Canadian skiing and golf, and ensured that these two sports thrived throughout the 1950s, '60s, and '70s. Shaughnessy came from an extremely strong and influential Montreal sporting family that saw at least one family member on the roster of the Loyola College or McGill football teams over a 25-year period. His father, "Shag" Shaughnessy, was a long-standing football coach at McGill University and, at one point, served as president of the International Baseball League. Frank himself was a McGill football all-star in 1934, as well as a member of the university's intercollegiate hockey championship teams in both 1934 and 1935. An American by birth, Shaughnessy possessed dual citizenship and was chosen to play on the U.S. national hockey team that went to the 1936 Olympic Games. Upon graduating from McGill, Shaughnessy served with the Royal Canadian Artillery during the Second World War and after got a job with Bell Telephone in Montreal. Over the next four decades, he held several managerial positions with Bell but still managed to keep one foot in the door of the athletic world as a sports administrator. In the 1950s, Shaughnessy became heavily involved in skiing administration, acting as vice-president of the Laurentian Ski Zone from 1952 to 1955, technical chair of the Quebec division of the Canadian Ski Association from 1954 to 1955, and chairman of the national ski team from 1954 to 1955. In this capacity, Shaughnessy was largely responsible for the successful fundraising venture that sent the Canadian ski team to the world championships in Sweden in 1954. He served as vice-president of the Canadian Olympic Association from 1957 to 1972 and was Chef de Mission for the Canadian team at every Olympic event between 1956 and 1972, one of the most exciting periods of Canadian Olympic skiing that saw the success of such athletes as Nancy Greene and Anne Heggtveit. During this time, Shaughnessy was simultaneously climbing the rungs of the administrative ladder in Canadian golf. He served as director of the Quebec Golf Association from 1958 to 1964 and was its president in 1964. He was the governor of the Royal Canadian Golf Association from 1965 to 1969 and chair in 1967. After Shaughnessy retired from Bell in 1973, he worked for COJO, the Olympic Games organizing committee, to handle accreditation for the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal. Shaughnessy went about his administrative duties with little fanfare but his impact on the sporting world has been heavily felt. Sportswriter Andy O'Brien said of him, "Whether it was skiing or golf or the Olympics, he always seemed to be the vice-president, the one who stayed in the background and got things done. I don't think anybody in this country ever devoted himself as completely to so many sports."